A New Relief
by scorpiagirl93
Summary: A new girl in Alex's class turns out to be one of MI6's top agents. What will happen when the each of them discovers that the other works for MI6 as well? Disclaimer: I own nothing about Alex Rider.
1. Chapter 1

Alex Rider threw his bag onto the floor and himself onto the bed. He lay there for a few moments, silently staring at the ceiling. After a week of after school detentions, Alex was feeling thoroughly fed up. Especially as it wasn't his fault that he hadn't handed in the history essay for the third time this term.

Alex sighed as his thoughts turned to the new girl who had showed up on Monday. Ellie was funny, smart and stunning, so it wasn't really surprising that Alex wasn't the only one who had taken to her immediately. Whenever you saw Ellie, Jason White or one of his idiotic friends was never far behind.

Ellie, however, didn't seem at all interested in a single one of the boys in Alex's class. She was obviously used to having too much male attention and would easily shake anyone off that got too close.

In fact, the only things that Ellie really seemed to be interested in were loud rock music and any kind of sport. She was fantastic at pretty much everything, beating Alex in all the cross country races, and out running anyone who came near enough to tackle her when they were playing hockey.

Ellie's real name was Elinor Clarke, but on the first day she had introduced herself to the form as Ellie, so that was what everyone called her.

"Alex I'm home!" Jack's familiar voice interrupted Alex's steady flow of thoughts. Alex jumped, and leapt up quickly from his bed, before replying "Hey Jack!"

Pausing to look in the mirror on his way downstairs, Alex realised how muscular he'd become since starting to work for MI6. He'd never really noticed it before, until he'd come back from Australia, after the rocket crash landed. Thinking of his latest mission made Alex feel a little sad. He hadn't spoken to his friend Paul Drevin since going up into space, but MI6 had said that he was now living in an orphanage near Miami.

It was MI6's fault that Paul no longer had a father to live with. They had stuffed up Paul's life, just like they had stuffed up his. A sudden spurt of anger made Alex turn on his heals. Instead of heading downstairs, he silently tip-toed up the stairs that lead to his dead uncle's old office. Alex wasn't really sure why he was going up here, but a sudden instinct had told him to. He knew that his uncle had a thing about secret hiding places, and suddenly Alex wanted to know more about his involvement with MI6. Maybe it would make him hate them a bit less.

As Alex walked through the door into the room which, as a child, he had been forbidden to enter, he felt a small shudder run through his body. Alex rarely went in here, even though the door was never locked like it always used to be. The room had been emptied shortly after his uncle's death, by someone from MI6 who had come to the house, presumably to remove any evidence of his Ian Rider's involvement in MI6.

Alex began to gently tap on the walls, searching for a bit that sounded hollow. He used the same technique as he did when doing a thorough check for bugs, or hidden cameras in a room. Alex had almost finished his check of the first wall when he caught his toe on something sharp. There was a ripping noise as whatever it was tore a hole through his sock. Alex gave a gasp of pain, and glanced down at his foot. It was bleeding slightly, but that wasn't what had grasped his attention.

Sticking up from the edge of the carpet was a nail. Alex's heart started thumping slightly. Without stopping to think that the nail would have been a far too obvious hiding place for his uncle to stash secret documents about his work, Alex leaned down excitedly, and tugged at the nail. At once the carpet pulled up, revealing a loose floorboard underneath. Alex yanked it up, and on his second attempt the floorboard came free. Holding, his breath, Alex stared down into the small hole underneath. It was empty. Obviously the man who had searched the house had found the hiding place. Alex moaned in frustration.

There was no point. How could he have ever thought that he would find something in this room? Alex turned to leave the room, promising himself that he wouldn't come back, or get his hopes up again.

Pausing in the doorway, Alex took one final glance around the room. And noticed that part of the wall on the opposite side of the room to where he had been stood before was hanging open. Surely it hadn't been like that before, or Alex would have noticed it when he had first walked in. Stepping cautiously back into the room, Alex sighed at how quickly he had broken the promise to himself. It angered him how everything to do with MI6 was so twisted.

At the same time however, Alex was excited, and when he knelt down and pulled the flap fully open his heart started thumping so hard that someone could have been using it as a bass drum. He realised that the loose floorboard was just a cover, and that something he had done – most probably pulling on the nail – had triggered this small flap in the wall to open.

Alex stared at what he had uncovered. It was a small, grey keypad, with a large green button that read 'Enter'. Obviously you had to type in a code to get in. Alex's heart leapt. He had discovered the secret code that his uncle used for many important things just a couple of years earlier. _2539_. _Alex_. Those were the keys that each letter of his name was on, on a standard mobile phone.

Taking deep breaths to control his excitement, Alex leaned forward and carefully tapped in the code, before pressing the 'Enter' key. A faint 'click' from somewhere above him told Alex that that he had got the right password. Standing up, Alex took a good look around, before noticing that yet another flap had opened in the wall just above his head, this one opening out into a small safe. Standing on tip-toe, Alex pushed his hand inside, and felt a rush of adrenalin when he felt the distinctive shape of an A4 file.

Pulling it out, he just had time to glance at the front cover before he heard Jack calling up the stairs.

"Alex, where are you?"

Slamming the file back into the safe, Alex ran out of the office and down the stairs. Jack was stood at the bottom, watching him curiously.

"What were you doing up there?" she asked.

Alex replied without really thinking about the answer.

"I thought I heard a noise or something earlier, so I went up to check but it was probably just the pipes".

"Right." From the way Jack responded, Alex could tell that she didn't believe him, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about what he had seen on the front of the file. He had only caught a glimpse of it, but that had been enough. Enough to be able to read the name that was printed on the front in bold letters.

Elinor Roseanne Clarke.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thankyou for reviewing, everyone that did!! I'm sorry this is even shorter than the first chapter... it will get longer and more interesting, I promise!! I hope you like it!!_

* * *

Alex sat with his elbows leaning on his desk, and his head half in his hands. His teacher was explaining some kind of complicated equation on the whiteboard, but Alex was finding it impossible to take a single word in. He was too busy thinking about what he had seen last night.

He hadn't been able to get back up to Ian Rider's office again after he had been caught out by Jack. She had watched him like a hawk all evening; she always could tell when he was up to something.

Elinor Roseanne Clarke.

_God._ Alex had never even suspected that he wasn't the only teenager working for MI6. And now here was someone else, sat in the very same classroom as him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex stole a sneaky glance at Ellie. She was staring glassy eyed at the teacher, but it was obvious that she was paying as little attention as Alex.

Alex couldn't help noticing how beautiful she was. So beautiful, and so intelligent and so… _normal_. _How could she possibly work for MI6? _Sensing that Ellie was about to look his way, Alex turned his eyes to the front of the room, and tried to focus on what the maths teacher, Mr Donovan, was saying, but that was easier said than done. His mind began to wander again, and the rest of the lesson passed in a blur. When the bell finally rang to signal the end of the lesson, Alex packed his books away quickly and hurried out of the classroom to catch up with Ellie.

"Ellie!" Alex called out as he jogged down the corridor to catch up with her.

"Alex…?" Ellie turned to wait for him.

"Erm…" _Shit._ Alex swore under his breath. What exactly had he been going to say? _Sorry, but I was just wondering if it's true that you're an undercover agent working for MI6? _Yeah right.

Ellie was watching him with raised eyebrows. She was probably beginning to think he was a complete freak, just like the rest of the class.

"Um…" Alex fumbled around desperately for an excuse. "Sorry… I thought you dropped your pen. Sorry."

Alex was aware that he had turned the colour of a beetroot, and that Ellie's eyebrows had now almost reached the sky.

"Right. Well I guess I'll see you around then."

"Yeah. Sure." Alex gave a small groan as he watched Ellie walk off. His best mate, Tom, came up and slapped him on the back.

"Idiot. You made a right mess of that one."

"I know. There's no need to rub it in," Alex replied wearily.

"Ah well. It's only a girl. C'mon let's go to the canteen, I'm starving."

* * *

Alex half-walked, half-ran to the bike shed that evening. His aim was to get home before Jack, so that he would have a chance to remove the file from his uncle's old office to his bedroom before she arrived back, and caught him up there again. He swiftly unlocked the padlock that chained his bike to the wall, and began to cycle full speed out of the grounds, swerving dangerously around any cars or pedestrians that got in his way.

He reached his house just ten minutes after the end of school. Not bad, Alex thought. After hurriedly unlocking the front door, Alex stepped inside the house and dumped his bag in the hallway. Pausing in the kitchen for a moment to pour himself a coke, Alex realised properly how strange the situation that he was in was. He had never even considered this to be a possibility, and even now, although he was about to look at direct evidence, he couldn't really believe that it was true.

_God_. If he couldn't believe that another teenager worked for MI6, then what would people say if he told them that _he_ did? Alex shook his head slightly, and began to climb the stairs. When he reached the top floor, he hesitated before entering his dead uncle's office. Maybe he shouldn't be doing this, after all, he had been forbidden to go into this room for fourteen years of his life. Perhaps he was sticking his nose where it didn't belong…

These thoughts only lasted a couple of seconds, however, and he was soon striding across the carpeted floor of the office, having let his curiosity get the better of him.

Tapping in the same code to the keypad that he had done the evening before, Alex held his breath while he waited for the door to spring open. It didn't happen. Alex's heart almost stopped beating as he typed in the code again; taking care this time to make sure that he pressed the right buttons. He hit 'Enter' again. Still nothing happened. "_Shit!_" Alex swore aloud.

A sudden movement behind him caught his eye, and he swivelled round but it was too late.

Alex caught a short glimpse of a man in a suit aiming a gun at him, before the familiar sensation of being shot with a stun dart hit him, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

* * *

_Yay hope you enjoyed it!! Plz R&R cuz I will love you forever!!!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Next chapter!! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last one, I really appreciate it!! Hope you enjoy..._

* * *

When Alex woke up, it was dark. His head hurt, and he could barely see anything through the inky blackness.

Alex closed his sticky eyelids. He took a couple of minutes to get used do the darkness of the room, and to the dull throb of his headache. When the hazy mess in front of his eyes finally cleared, he got up and walked cautiously across the room, to where there was a small chink of light flooding into the room.

A couple of seconds later Alex realised that the light was coming in through a gap in the curtains, and when he opened them he saw a sight that made his heart sink right down to his feet.

He was looking out on to Liverpool Street.

With a moan of frustration, Alex realised that the man who had shot him down had been working for MI6. What did they want with him now? Surely they could give him a _bit_ of a break to recover from the wound inflicted upon him by Scorpia, and from his journey in the rocket. Obviously not. Alex sighed. He knew that they were never going to leave him alone.

Turning back to the window, he noted that it was light outside. Did that mean he had slept through the night?

Suddenly something occurred to him – Did this mean that Ellie didn't really work for MI6? Had that just been part of a plan to get him back working for them again?

As he was thinking these thoughts, Alex heard the sound of a key turning in the lock. Well, he would soon be able to find out the answers to his questions. Alex turned to face the door as it opened, and revealed the man standing on the other side. Alex knew who it was immediately. John Crawley.

"Good morning, Alex."

Morning. So he had slept through the night.

"Good? I don't really see anything good about it," Alex replied flippantly.

"Come with me," said Crawley, ignoring Alex's sarcastic remark.

He led Alex down a bare corridor, lined with doors with various names inscribed on them. After about a minute walking in silence, they stopped outside one of the doors. Alex didn't need to look at the name to know who this office belonged to. Alan Blunt, Head of MI6: Special Operations.

Alex sighed, knowing only to well what was about to happen. He felt a sense of dread as Crawley knocked, and entered the office.

As usual, Blunt was sat behind the desk; arms folded, and face showing no emotions whatsoever.

What Alex hadn't expected was to see Ellie sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk, looking thoroughly fed up.

Well, at least that answered that question – the file definitely hadn't been made up.

As they entered the room, Ellie swivelled the chair around to face them, and her eyes widened when she saw Alex.

"Bloody hell."

This raised a small smile on Alex's lips. "Surprised?"

Ellie managed to nod through the shock. "I had no idea! God, when they said there was another teenage spy I was amazed, but this…? I didn't suspect at all that you would have anything to do with MI6."

Alex nodded. "I was pretty shocked when I found out that you were a spy, as well."

"How _did_ you find out? And how long have you known?"

"I found a file with your name on in my uncle's old office on Thursday evening. He used to work for MI6, before he died. I was gonna say something to you yesterday, but I couldn't. It just sounded too ridiculous. Oh, and about that file," Alex turned on Blunt, "Why couldn't I get to it yesterday?"

Blunt's face didn't change as he replied "The code panel has a sensor attached to it. When you tapped in the right code to open the door on Thursday night, a signal was sent back to us. We figured out that it must be you that had opened it, so we changed the code, but by that time it was too late. You had already seen the file."

"So you brought us here so that we could find out properly about each other," said Ellie.

"Right, well if that's all you wanted…"Alex turned to head for the door, but Crawley stopped him.

"Actually Alex, we thought that as you're both here, then you could do some work for us," he said.

"I don't like the sound of that _at all_," Ellie muttered, but loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"No, nor do I," replied Alex, who then glanced at Ellie. "Not that I have anything against you or anything, it's just…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She turned to face Blunt. "How're you gonna explain us _both_ having time off school, at exactly the same time anyway?"

"Well, it would be tricky, but I'm sure we would manage it. After all, you do both have a reputation for long illnesses," Blunt replied flatly.

Alex and Ellie looked at each other, with raised eyebrows, and a resigned expression as if to say "_Well, what can you do?_"

Alex turned to eyeball Blunt who, even though his face was still giving nothing away, had a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

"Well then. What do you want us to do?"

* * *

"Say that again," said Ellie, staring at Blunt in disbelief. Alex had a similar expression on his face.

Blunt shrugged. "It's quite simple really. All you have to do is infiltrate the academy, uncover information, and report it back to us. I don't see any problem."

"Like it would be that simple!" cried Alex, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We don't even look Japanese!"

"That wouldn't matter," Blunt replied calmly. "The academy recruits youngsters from all over the world to do its dirty work, as long as they are orphans and are willing to help. New members are constantly being plucked out of orphanages and care homes. In poorer countries there are recruitment officers patrolling the streets in disguise. In fact, that's where they get most of their recruits, children who have no where else to go. At least the two of you speak fluent Japanese; you'll have that on your side, at least."

"But they're a massive terrorist organisation. It would be _so_ dangerous. And God knows _what_ would happen if they found out that we were on to them…" Ellie trailed off.

"Well then, you'll have to make sure that they don't, won't you. As far as I'm concerned, the two of you have no choice in whether you do this mission or not. You know what the consequences will be otherwise…"

Alex and Ellie glanced at each other and sighed. They both knew that this was blackmail, and they were being used, but they couldn't do anything about it. MI6 had total control over them.

Ellie scowled. "I guess I'll do it then."

Alex gave another sigh, before snapping, "Fine. Whatever. When do we leave?"

"You'll both leave on different days, so as to reduce suspicion," Blunt replied promptly. "Alex, you'll leave on Tuesday, and Ellie will follow on Friday. The flights are already booked. I'll give you plenty of information to read before you go, as well as the background cover stories for each of you. You'll also need to pay a visit to Mr. Smithers, and get whatever gadgets he has in store for you this time."

Alex stared at him, open-mouthed. Blunt had already planned all this, without even asking the two of them about the mission. Well, Alex reasoned, it wasn't really _that_ surprising. After all, Blunt would have already known what their answer would be.

* * *

_Next chapter will be the beginning of their mission... Please review, it makes me really happy and inspires me to write more!!_


	4. Chapter 4

_BIG thankyou to everyone that has reviewed so far!! I do have an excuse for why this chapter took so long... I just havent thought of it yet lol!! Thankyou to **R1D3R** for giving me the idea about Paul... Enjoy!!_

* * *

A man sat in a large air conditioned office, staring intently at a computer screen, and smiling slightly to himself. The man was in his fifties, small and balding. He was the leader of the largest animal rights movement in Japan. The man believed in doing whatever he could to give animals a better life, and in his mind this often meant violence. Extreme violence. And that was what he had in store for these 'agents' who were on their way to spy on his organisation.

The man allowed himself a small chuckle as he marvelled on how brilliant, yet idiotic the minds of the British government had become. Sending _children_ to do their dirty work? He had thought that was a unique trick, used only by organisations like _his_.

He smirked. Well, if that's the way they wanted to play it, then let the fun begin. He was going to bring down this operation before it had even started.

* * *

Almost 3000 miles away, Alex Rider glared out of the window of the plane in frustration. How had he let MI6 suck him into one of their schemes yet again?

He tried to cheer himself up with the thought that Ellie would be on this mission with him, but even that wasn't much consolation. He liked Ellie, a lot, but ever since the two of them had met in Alan Blunt's office a few days before, it had seemed like she was hiding something. Not for the first time, Alex wondered if Ellie knew something about the mission that he didn't…

Alex knew that he should be getting in some last minute background study on the mission, but MI6 had been throwing books full of information at him constantly over the last few days, and Alex thought he deserved a break from it all, and besides, he was tired. What with all the background reading, and the worrying, he had hardly slept.

As Alex settled down and tried to make himself comfortable in his seat, his mind wandered to Jack. She hadn't wanted him to come. But then she never did. He hadn't told her about Ellie; it would have just angered and upset her even more, to know that MI6 were making a habit of using teenagers as spies.

The whirr of the plane's engines was beginning to make Alex feel drowsy, and before he knew it, his steady thoughts had stopped, as his mind shut down and went to sleep.

* * *

_Three days later..._

Ellie eyed the conveyer belt at the Narita International Airport (Tokyo), waiting for her luggage to come through. The last three days had been a total drag; she had finished reading all of MI6's information by Tuesday, and with Alex already gone the days before the mission had passed extremely slowly.

Ellie spotted her bag, and picked it up as it came round to her. She slung it over her shoulders, and then paused, to think about what to do next. The only instruction that she had been given was that someone would pick her up from the airport. Ellie hadn't really given this much thought, but now she realised that it was going to be virtually impossible to find someone in this crowd, especially as she had no idea who she was looking for. She decided to try heading outside, where it was possibly a bit less busy.

Ellie glanced up at the ceiling, where signs written in Japanese hung down, giving directions of where to go for the various terminals and lounges.

Her sharp eyes finally picked out the Japanese letters 出口 – _Exit_.

As soon as Ellie stepped out of the automatic door, a blast of intense heat hit her. Obviously the airport had been air totally conditioned. Ellie hadn't even thought about the sweltering heat that she had been warned of until she had stepped out of the door.

After taking a few moments to get used to the extreme heat, Ellie began to take in her surroundings.

She was obviously on the outskirts of the city, and in the distance she could make it a few tall buildings reaching up into the sky. The noise from the traffic was horrendous, and Ellie could barely see anything for the sea of cars and buses in front of her.

Well, she thought to herself as someone bashed her leg with a suitcase on their way past, it certainly wasn't any quieter here than it was inside the airport! In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if Alex was still here, searching for the person that was supposed to pick _him_ up.

With a grim look on her face, Ellie prepared herself to start fighting her way through the crowd, to see if she could find anyone who looked vaguely like they might be waiting for a fourteen-year-old girl. However, before she could move, a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, and she twisted sharply around.

"Elinor Jacobs?" the man asked, speaking in Japanese.

"Yes," replied Ellie, recognizing the name as the one she was using for the purposes of the mission. "Have you come to take me to the academy?"

"I have. Follow me."

* * *

Alex was outside in the yard doing physical training when the third yellow cab that day drew up. He would barely have glanced at it had he not known that Ellie was arriving today, and as far as he knew she wasn't here yet.

The physical instructor kept all the boys moving constantly, jogging on the spot, or doing press ups and squats on the dusty floor. It was agony in the intense heat, and even Alex, who was pretty fit for his age, was struggling.

Alex turned slightly, and out of the corner of his eye he saw first the driver who had brought him here emerge from the front of the cab, and then Ellie, who climbed out of the door behind him.

So it was her. The knowledge that his friend had arrived gave Alex mixed emotions – happiness that he was no longer here alone, but also a slight despair at the thought that now the mission really had started.

None of the other boys seemed particularly interested in the new arrival, after all, there was plenty of them every single day, and they were concentrating hard on the instructions being shouted at the by the fitness teacher. Alex, however, followed Ellie with his eyes as she was lead by the driver of the cab into the large, grey building that housed all of the pupils.

As she passed the group of boys doing star jumps, Ellie glanced up, and her eyes briefly connected with Alex's, before turning away, and heading into the building.

Alex was deep in thought as he followed the crowd of exhausted teenagers into the changing rooms ten minutes later. He stripped out of his sweaty games kit, and stood under a cold shower.

This had been his life for three days now, and he knew the daily routine off by heart. The academy didn't just focus on the education of the teenagers, but trained them to be spies, secret weapons who could perform terrorist attacks and hardly be suspected.

In a way, Alex supposed, it was like he was to MI6. They used him as their secret weapon, because no one would suspect that a child is spying on them.

All of the boys that Alex had met were tough, and in good physical shape. They were all intelligent, and children that came from the other side of the world would have learnt to speak almost fluent Japanese by the time they had been at the academy for a few weeks.

As Alex stood under the cold shower, contemplating all of this, he heard a voice, a familiar voice, calling his name.

"Alex?"

He spun round, and was astonished to see the person that he saw before him.

"Paul!?"

* * *

_Hope you liked it... Please R&R!!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it inspires me to write more!!_

_Sorry this took a while, I'm a VERY slow writer. I'm also not sure that I really like this chapter... But I hope you do!! Enjoy!!_

* * *

The two teenagers stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, before Alex finally broke the silence.

"Wow. Didn't guess you'd be living _here_."

"No. Nor me. And I really wish I wasn't. In fact, if it wasn't for _you_, and the way you turned up and meddled with my life, then I wouldn't be," Paul replied bitterly.

Alex was surprised. He hadn't really thought about Paul that much since what had happened in America, but it hadn't even occurred to him that Paul may be holding a grudge against him for his father's death.

"Paul…" Alex was lost for words. What could he say to this boy, who had had such a murderous, insane father, who'd died because of Alex?

An awkward silence filled the room. Neither of the two boys had anything to say to each other. It was Paul who spoke eventually.

"So how come you're here? I thought you had a home."

Alex considered his options. Paul knew about MI6 already, so he wouldn't really be breaking too many rules by telling him about the mission. On the other hand, if Paul was really as sore with him as it seemed, then he might accidentally (or maybe even on purpose) let something crucial slip out when he was talking to other people around the academy.

Alex sighed. Was his friendship more important than the MI6 mission? Alex certainly didn't like the prospect of having to lie to Paul again, so he decided to settle for something close to the truth.

"It's kind of complicated," he began.

"Spare me the crap," Paul interrupted. "Has this got anything to do with MI6?"

Alex glanced nervously over his shoulder, but there was nobody around to hear them.

When he looked back at Paul, he found that the other boy was staring at him intently, waiting for an answer.

"Yes," Alex muttered reluctantly. "I'm on a mission, working for them."

Paul's eyes widened and his lips began to form a tight smile.

"So. Tell me all about it then."

Alex eyed him. "Alright. But you've gotta tell me why _you_'re here as well."

* * *

Ellie had barely been at the academy for 20 minutes when she was sent for. The messenger, a dark haired, dark skinned girl knocked politely on the door if the room that Ellie was sharing with nine other girls, and announced shyly that Ellie was to go and see the director of the Academy. 

Ellie was slightly unsure about the meeting – was it something that the academy did routinely for new arrivals, or had the director singled her out specifically? She knew that he was also the leader of the animal rights movement and, according to MI6, was an extremely dangerous man.

As she made her way to the office, Ellie told herself to keep a cool head, no matter what she had been told about this man!

Pausing outside the door of his office, she wondered if she should wait and ask Alex for his opinion on the meeting, but the thought passed and, telling herself that it was nothing to worry about, Ellie knocked on the door.

"Enter," said a slimy voice. It was the first English word Ellie had heard since arriving at the academy.

She gripped the handle tightly, and pushed the door open.

The room that she stepped into was pitch black, and apparently empty

The room suddenly felt very cold, which worried Ellie because of the extreme heat of the country.

She had a sudden sensation that a freezing cold hand had grabbed her heart, and started squeezing…

Ellie was about to turn back through the doorway when a small _click_ told her this was not going to be an option. Half a second later, a sweaty hand had clamped itself over her mouth, and another was gripping her shoulder.

"Don't even _try_ to move, or do anything funny, or I'll blow your brains out," threatened a voice. Ellie felt cold metal being pushed against her head – the barrel of a gun.

Frantic thoughts were swirling crazily round Ellie's mind. Did this mean that the operation had been discovered? It almost certainly did, but how the _hell_ had they been found out?

She didn't have much time to ponder on these thoughts, as another man appeared from the shadows, and forced her into the middle of the room. He yanked her hands roughly behind her back, and began to bind them with a coarse rope.

When the men were satisfied that she couldn't escape, the lights were turned back on, and Ellie, blinking madly in the sudden bright light, was twisted round to face the desk.

She recognized the man sat behind it. She had seen him in one of the mug shots that MI6 had showed her in preparation for the mission, but Ellie was sure that she knew him from somewhere else. His distinct facial features rung a bell, but she wasn't sure why.

When he spoke, it was the chilling voice that Ellie had heard from outside the door a few minutes earlier.

"So… You thought you could fool me did you?" he questioned softly. "Well, I'll have you know I am _not_ a foolish person."

The words made Ellie shiver, and the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle.

With a sense of dread, she lifted her head to reply, but was silenced by the wave of a hand.

"I would imagine you're wondering how I came to discover you little, what shall we call it, _mission_?"

There wasn't even time for Ellie to begin to reply before the director answered his own question.

"Well, let me explain…"

* * *

Alex was exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. He was still reeling from his talk with Paul, who had told him that he had been brought to the academy after spending a few weeks in an orphanage in Russia. The place sounded horrendous, so Paul had obviously been relieved to be recruited into the school. 

Another thing that was bothering Alex was the fact that he hadn't seen Ellie at all since her arrival that morning.

He knew most of the faces of students in the academy, simply from passing them in the yards and corridors, so why hadn't he seen her? Alex calmly told himself not to get worked up about this; he was certain there would be a reasonable explanation for why Ellie hadn't been around the academy.

He turned himself over in the narrow bed, and forced his eyes shut. Tomorrow would be just as tiring as the last few days had been, and with his packed schedule Alex needed all of the sleep he could get.

After lying awake for a few more minutes, Alex finally drifted into a restless sleep.

* * *

Alan Blunt could tell that something was wrong. He'd only had a mission report from Alex today, and whilst he didn't expect his agents to report _every_ day, he had been expecting one that day from Ellie, saying that she'd got to the academy safely. 

He sighed, remembering the look on Ellie's face when he had told her his secret. He sincerely hoped that it would not affect her mission performance.

Blunt sat at his desk, deep in thought and frowning, for a few more minutes, before glancing up at the clock. Noticing that it was very late, he decided to head home, and act on his concerns in the morning.

* * *

_R&R plz tell me what you think!!!_


End file.
